Leah was a pioneer in the field of gender and sexuality. She was a founding member of the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (now known as the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, WPATH). She authored the first five versions of the Standards of Care and was a two-time President of HBIGDA, from 1991-1995, and the first women President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (1978-1979).

Dr. Schaefer safeguarded Harry Benjamin's archives for many decades and in 2007, along with Dr. Charles Ihlenfield, Executor of Harry Benjamin Estate, donated an extensive archive of Dr. Harry Benjamin to the Kinsey Institute. Benjamin himself was a pioneering researcher in transgender health and the first medical practitioner in U.S to treat transgender individuals. Dr. Schaefer also entrusted the Kinsey Institute with her own archives of professional records, publications, correspondence, and media productions.

As a gender specialist in private practice in New York City, Dr. Schaefer shared her compassion and wisdom with thousands of individuals. She received many awards including the Harry Benjamin Life Achievement Award from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and the Distinguished Alumni Award from Columbia University Teachers College.

Liana Zhou, Director of Library and Archives at The Kinsey Institute, remembers her dear friend:

"Dr. Leah Schaefer was an inspiration to all of us at The Kinsey Institute and will be deeply missed by her friends here, as well as by the thousands of scholars and researchers around the world who are influenced and inspired by her pioneering work."